Subject
[NABOKOV-L] A novel with "Real people and not my inventions",
Nabokov, 1925
Nabokov, 1925
From
Date
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JM: I found a quote that has been attributed to Nabokov: "Happy is the novelist who manages to preserve an actual love letter that he received when he was young within a work of fiction, embedded in it like a clean bullet in flabby flesh and quite secure there, among spurious lives," but no indication from where it has been extracted.
Soon later I reached the NYPL site ("The Life and Works of Vladimir Nabokov") which was the subject of a recent posting, where I discovered that, in his novel Mashen'ka, Nabokov had in fact inserted five of the love letters he'd received from his sweet-heart Lyussa ("Tamara"). At that time ( following a letter written to his mother in October 1925), he seemed proud that his characters were "real people, and not (his) inventions."
Concerning "Machen'ka", VN acknowledges to Edmund Wilson, twenty years later, that "The girl really existed".
In his later statements, when interviewed, Nabokov's words were always in stark opposition to this perspective on "real life characters" and actual epistolary quotes and inclusions.
While reading the VN/EW Letters I hadn't paid attention to this admission ( it's probably dated of 1945, if the information is correct). It might help to understand when his entire attitude related to fiction suffered such a radical change.
I also vaguely remember the image of a "clean bullett in flabby flesh" ( RLSK?TOoL? Mentioned in B.Boyd's AY?) used in the quote. It would certainly help to research further into this matter should someone help locate it and discover when it was set down.
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Soon later I reached the NYPL site ("The Life and Works of Vladimir Nabokov") which was the subject of a recent posting, where I discovered that, in his novel Mashen'ka, Nabokov had in fact inserted five of the love letters he'd received from his sweet-heart Lyussa ("Tamara"). At that time ( following a letter written to his mother in October 1925), he seemed proud that his characters were "real people, and not (his) inventions."
Concerning "Machen'ka", VN acknowledges to Edmund Wilson, twenty years later, that "The girl really existed".
In his later statements, when interviewed, Nabokov's words were always in stark opposition to this perspective on "real life characters" and actual epistolary quotes and inclusions.
While reading the VN/EW Letters I hadn't paid attention to this admission ( it's probably dated of 1945, if the information is correct). It might help to understand when his entire attitude related to fiction suffered such a radical change.
I also vaguely remember the image of a "clean bullett in flabby flesh" ( RLSK?TOoL? Mentioned in B.Boyd's AY?) used in the quote. It would certainly help to research further into this matter should someone help locate it and discover when it was set down.
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/